When a load is carried in a truck or the like, it is often desirable, and frequently required by law, that the load be covered. Typically loads are covered with a tarpaulin (or "tarp," as will be used herein). An example is the hauling of garden debris in a pick-up truck, where it is desirable to cover the load with a tarp to prevent debris from blowing out of the bed of the truck and onto the road. Current tarpaulins available on the market can be difficult to secure over loads. Often tarps will billow due to the lowering of pressure on the outside of the tarp from air velocity over the tarp, as a result of the velocity of the truck. Not only does such billowing result in poor securing of the load, but it is hard on the tarp, it is noisy, is visually distracting, and reduces fuel mileage due to increased wind resistance.
Products to date for covering loads have either focused on restraining items such as ropes and elastic shock cords (or Bungee cords), or covering items such as fixed size tarps. Restraining items alone may be insufficient to secure the load, and do not protect the load from weather. The use of Bungee cords or ropes in conjunction with a fixed size tarp for securing a load fails to be effective when the dynamic effects of the wind during transportation cause the tarp to pull out from under the cord, or by reason of the fixed size tarp being difficult to secure in a uniform manner.
Thus, what is needed is an effective way to secure a tarp about a load during transportation.